Interesting Quote

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

- Albert Einstein

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Bible FAQ: Did You Know...

Did you know that for a number of years, some skeptics actually disputed the New Testament accounts about Pontius Pilate? No hard artifacts existed at the time to confirm his existence and position, and later extra-biblical historical mention of him was suspected as having been improperly borrowed from the Christian scriptures and later creeds. Then, in 1961, archaeologists found a first century theater inscription at Caesarea Maritima in Israel, dedicated from "Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea," to "Tiberius Caesar." What the Bible had professed and preserved in scripture had achieved hard artifact verification nearly 2,000 years later. Chalk one up for God's people!

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Intent Precedes Content...

Running this blog has been a great joy to me. During the past months I have been able to dig in and research the different aspects of Christianity, as well as tackle some of the different types of evidence across the board in various scientific fields. One of the things I have noticed quite a bit recently, as I have been browsing back over some of the comments that people have been posting to my articles; is the notion that if someone has truly made up their mind already, there is no changing it.

Take a simple example to begin with. Lets say that I grew up in a household that venerated the tradition of eating pizza every Friday night, no matter what. Throughout my early childhood and even up into my teens, I rarely missed a Friday night pizza dinner. It was a good opportunity for my parents to take a break from cooking, and we all really like the pizza place down the road. But later in life I began to increase my sphere of knowledge, and was introduced to the idea that there was something better out there than pizza... that there was such a thing as Peking Duck (don't worry this is just an example. I haven't lost my mind and abandoned pizza!). And not only was Peking Duck available at numerous restaurants around town, but that I could eat it whenever I needed to, not just on Fridays!

Sound silly? I think this is close to what happens when people refuse to listen to God's "still, small" voice. They do not follow the evidence, the history, or the witness of others to their logical end. Sure we can have different views on how to interpret the evidence, even among Christians there are disagreements. But the issue runs deeper than this. In this sense, Intent can come prior to Content. If I don't allow God at the outset, then guess what? There is no room for God within the construct or paradigm of how I interpret the evidence. I am finished before I even begin. I have decided not only to avoid Peking Duck altogether, but I won't even drive past the Chinese restaurant.

Now this can work both ways of course. Couldn't someone presume the supernatural where it doesn't exist? This is what makes new converts to "religion" so interesting. They haven't had the bias of growing up Catholic, or Baptist, or whatever. They have come to believe based on their own understanding of the arguments. In a sense, they have "earned their stripes" in the school of independent study. We should admire this determination. Because if you are going to believe in something, you should know why. Are you certain that God doesn't exist? Or are you simply driving past the restaurant, without even stopping?

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God Proof #12

The Bible is an amazing book. Its 66 books were written by some 40 authors over the span of some 1,500+ years. And through it all, the Bible remains seamless and harmonious. One interesting fact when we talk about proving God, or proving the authority of the Bible comes by way of fulfilled prophecies. Now by prophecy, I am not talking here about the looser sense of the word in movies and the popular writing of today. I mean the utterances spoken by the prophets of God in days gone by, of which the veracity has already been proven for all to see.

Lets look at just the prophecies of Jesus Christ alone. There are roughly over 300 of them that can be traced back and proved to have already come to pass! Some critics will offer this rebuttal to the data: "well, maybe Jesus had read these prophecies, and then purposely tried to position himself in the right place at the right time in order to fulfill them publicly." Now this is rather silly, as most of you probably can sense from the outset. Did Christ plan to be born in the right town and at the right time? Did Jesus say to himself, "well next week I have to die at the hands of Pontius Pilate on a cross to fulfill Isaiah 53?" I'm afraid that simply doesn't fly.

Now what do I mean by prophecies fulfilled? Here is a short list of examples below:

He would be born of the seed of Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3, 22:18), of the tribe of Judah (Gen 49:10), of the house of David (2 Samuel 7:12f), etc. The city in which He would be born (Micah 5:2), that Jesus would come while the temple was still standing (Malachi 3:1), that He would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), that He would perform miracles (Isaiah 35:5-6), that He’d be rejected by His own people (Psalm 118:22; 1 Peter 2:7), the exact time in history when Christ would die (Daniel 9:24-26; 483 years after the declaration to reconstruct the city of Jerusalem in 444 B.C. This was fulfilled to the very year.), how He would die (Psalm 22:16-18, Isaiah 53; Zech 12:10), and that He would be resurrected (Psalm 16:10).

So what does this all mean? Is it just old wive's tales that were written in one part of a book, and verified at another part of the same book? That would be a good argument if the book were written by the same author in the same lifetime. But as I stated above, it was spread out across generations and hundreds of years. Okay, so maybe all the writers simply looked back across the pages and invented accounts to fulfill the prophecies, right? Remember that the Bible is a historical document as well as an inspired book. The person and existence of Jesus (remember we are talking here only about prophecies related to Christ; we haven't touched on the other ones) vindicated over 300 such predictions, in ways that defy backward plagiarism.

Weak arguments exist, but so do strong rebuttals. At the end of the day, I'm afraid we are left with good evidence for the veracity of the Bible, as well as proof that it was inspired by God. Not only do the prophecies tell us that Jesus was the real deal, but they also tell us that God knows His plan for the past, present, and future - and knows it well. As C.S. Lewis put it in his book "Mere Christianity", '... we have reason to be uncomfortable...' Or in the case of the Christian believer; we have reason for our assurance.

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Interesting Quote

"Where the eye is focused, there the imagination finds its raw material. The right focus must be won at immense cost and discipline. Train the eye to see the good, and the imagination will follow suit."

- Ravi Zacharias

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What Do We Know About “Knowing?"

Last night I had the chance to view the film “Knowing” starring Nicholas Cage. In the film Cage plays John, a physics teacher at a university, who discovers a piece of paper with strange number strings written on it which his son Caleb brought home from school. The piece of paper had been sealed in a time capsule for 50 years, and recently un-earthed. Once John realizes that the number strings contain dates and longitudinal coordinates for both past and future disasters, the plot begins to take off.

At first it appeared that the film would just be another take on the Bible code phenomena, which by itself isn’t necessarily that compelling. But as the movie unfolds we begin to see that it is more or less Hollywood’s take on the Rapture (this is the idea among some Christian faiths that Jesus will come down and deliver all the saved people prior to the Great Tribulation). While I personally feel that the concept of the rapture is based on a misinterpretation of 1 Thessalonians, the film itself still did a good job of displaying the Christian worldview in a positive light. This is a big deal, because most of the media and especially Hollywood, depicts the Christian as often neurotic or psychotic. Kudos here to the director, who appeared to have taken the time and effort to ascribe a degree of respect to the Bible.

While certain things in the film were not Biblically accurate, it was nonetheless refreshing to see a thoughtful and even suspenseful dramatic presentation of end time events. Though other smaller films have sought to give attention to the concept of the end times, this movie had an A-list cast and excellent special effects. All the better to appeal to today’s younger cultural market.

Where this film did succeed was the idea of redemption and renewal. Without giving too much of the plot away, it was clear that one of the main ideas toward the end of the film was that certain human beings (those who had been “called”) were to be saved from destruction and redeemed in order to begin anew. This idea does go hand-in-hand with the book of the Revelation in the Bible of course. God tells us that we will have a new Earth and a new Heaven at the end of the age. How interesting to see a major motion picture attempt to capture this truth and beauty in today’s world! Overall I would have to recommend this film – not a bad way to spend a Saturday night. And don’t worry, I promise it will at least be stimulating enough to have an interesting conversation once its over. How many movies can we really say that about?

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Ricky Gervais on Religion...

I came across this video of actor/comedian Ricky Gervais giving his thoughts on religion and God. Ricky is most noted for his role as the bumbling boss on the BBC sitcom "The Office." That show was enormously successful and showcased his talent for being funny. You will note in the video link below, however, that there is nothing funny about his falling away from God.

His honest feelings may be coming through here. An emotional experience started him on his journey away from Christ. Some confusion about where the need to be spiritual comes from is also present. The main thing I noticed was his admission that he still lives according to Christian values and morals, even though he has renounced Christ. I don't think Ricky's position is too far from many people in today's world. It deserves serious answers from thinking Christians, and we must not criticize the views of people like this. He is not the aggressive and brazen atheist denouncing God in every facet of existence. He is just a person needing the peace of a creator - like the rest of us. Click below to view this short, interesting video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAfuKfmE1Tc

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Ummm God, What About my Checkbook?

The US is going through one of the worst financial downturns in years. Businesses are closing across the country at an alarming rate. Employees are being laid off. As of the writing of this article, some sources are quoting the American jobless rate at close to 10%. Even if you have a job you are still nervous. If you don’t, chances are you have probably been job-hunting for at least a year, if not more. It would appear that currently we are living in a culture of fear. Fear of financial ruin, fear of losing our 401k, fear of instability in general.

During this time it is normal to ask “where is God in all this?” Are we simply a product of our economy? Bound by the ebb and flow of normal economic lulls and highs? Is God out to lunch? Does He even care? As I have been thinking about these questions, a few things have occurred to me. Both my wife and mother-in-law have provided interesting insight here, as well as the Bible itself. Let us examine for a minute what we really lose vs. what we gain when our environment forces us to tighten the belt a bit. Now let me start off by clarifying that I am not forgetting about people who have lost their homes, lost their retirements, or cannot afford to eat. For these things there is no easy answer. But lets talk for a minute about some of the things that relative wealth (and America is still a wealthy nation) allows us to do.

When our materialistic needs are being met, I believe we have a tendency to become cocooned. Let me explain. If I have enough money to get the groceries I need, to take my family on vacation, to make every mortgage payment, and to keep up on some of life’s more enjoyable activities; then what purpose am I fulfilling? Sure I can contribute to charity or to church if I choose to do so – that is the good part. But what is happening to my spiritual side? Might I not become more or less a little apathetic when it comes to caring about other people? Or for that matter, needing other people? Needing God? If I can live on my own “island” and everything is comfortably provided, then what need do I have to seek out the rest of the world? I can simply keep buying HD television sets, new cars, and upgrading my cell phone each year. If I wanted to, I wouldn’t have to talk to anyone face-to-face at all.

But what about when that financial current is rattled? What about when I get laid off, or my spouse gets laid off, or all of a sudden I can’t make my mortgage payment? Well I can react in 1 of 2 ways. The first way is that I can hoard everything I have left, panic, and become depressed or even angry. Angry at God and/or everyone around me. The other option is to see this as an opportunity to possibly live the way God wants Americans to live. Needing each other and helping each other. Stepping out from behind the Internet or cell phone and into the real world. We must come outside of our comfortable bubble; we must leave our “island” (at least temporarily) and begin to wade through the deep water. In times of trouble God’s people should not become bitter. Though Job was subjected to severe circumstances in the Old Testament, he never rejected or renounced his creator. I don’t think God is punishing America. But if it is a judgment, we may in fact deserve it. What does a country get when it sets itself up as its own creators? When we are shown that our wealth is always transitory? I think we come face to face with our real selves -- for better or worse. As my family and myself are by no means aloof from this latest economic recession, I am hoping that I come out of it with the lesson learned, and not the anger. I am hoping the same for America.

The Official Business Card

Questions That Jesus Can Answer:

* Who Am I? * Where Am I Going?
* What Comes Next? * What is Love?
* Who Is God? * What Kind of Life Should I Live?
* Where Did We Come From? * How Should I Treat People?
* How Can I Get to Heaven? * What Does Life Mean?
* What is Forgiveness? * How Can I be Saved?
* Why Doesn't Wealth Fix Things? * What is Atonement?

Get the Picture?

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